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Scenario Play

Posted February 19th, 2009 at 04:05 PM by Bones
I've been a strong supporter of scenario play in all the wargames I own. The saying, "we didn't get dressed up for nothing" from Braveheart reminds me that the outcomes from battles should have a purpose whether that is more land, less tax, or retribution for a bruised ego.

Likewise, I like my games to have a theme. When I first played Heroscape with my friends, I was really intrigued by this 'General' concept. I was hoping there would be some way to track wins and losses, show how alliegences between these generals jokeyed for position. I was hoping to see Utgar's seemingly huge grasp conveyed in the game mechanics. In some ways, I guess through shear size of his available army and variation this is true. While in game play, it really doesn't matter.

I've been toying around with the idea of making it matter. Introducing the experience concept from the old Battlemasters game. After a victory, your remaining units receive a +1 to attack and defense. I've also thought about including a symbolic territory board. All this talk about fighting over well-springs, well how many are there? Something leads me to believe that there are a fixed amount and that owning more means good things for him that keeps'em. I haven't figured out the number yet, but my concept is rewarding an extra 10 building points for each well-spring to each general for army-drafts.

While we continue to wait for the newest wave release, I've thrown together a few ideas you may want to incorporate into your next game of scape. This is not an exhaustive list of ideas, so feel free to post some of your own.

Objectives - it's time to make a battle worth while, wouldn't you say so? How about king of the mountain... surpress and fire. Sometimes the best battles aren't about destroying your enemy, they are about keeping your enemy from taking a hill, entering a space, occupying a trench or capturing the flag.

Although I wasn't a big fan of the game, "Mutant Chronicles" and I'm a little worried about the upcoming live action movie... it had some enduring objective concepts like "retreiving a DNA sample" and "locate the super computer" which provided risk, a good battle, and fast paced games.

Dead Boxes - once you are dead, you're dead right? Wrong, I liked this concept when I played paintball and brought it into wargames. Basically it's a time-out station... a go to jail do not pass go place. Try killing off a Zettian Guard, waiting until the end of the round and start him at a set location. This works particularly well with Zombie hordes... trust me, they might lack in strength, but if they keep coming, it's more what I envisioned a zombie plague to look like.

Generators - some of you will hate this one... Remember the old Nintendo game, Gauntlet? I liked the idea so much that I once created a orc generator for my Heroquest games. I think the idea of the quantity and randomized/surprise foes is appealing.

1-Ups - so you really like Agent Carr... so much so, you wish you could keep him alive longer... so double his score and keep him for 8 wounds instead of 4. This is the basic concept of hero-play. Think of your Krav agents and how useful they would be if they each had 2 wounds a peice. Yeah, now you like the idea don't you?

Currency - money talks... in and out of your games. Add some treasure chests or pots of gold to your game play. Secure the treasure, divy up your loot between players, and keep track of who has what... perhaps you can buy an alliance or work out a deal or handicap. I think currency should relate to land use... think of purchasing your height advantages and a nice moat to keep your enemy's infantry bogged down.

Anyway, let me know what you think and if you have anything else to add. When in doubt, roll and shout!
Total Comments 4

Comments

Old
gmartin's Avatar
sounds very cool
Posted February 19th, 2009 at 05:17 PM by gmartin gmartin is offline
Old
Melwing17's Avatar
In my last blog where I spoke vaguely about my (and my wife's) ideas for adding some more RPGish content to Heroscape... many of my ideas are similar to what you just posted. Just wanted to let you know for two reasons:

1) You're cool
2) Don't think I am ripping you off, when I'm done playtesting and post my ideas.
Posted February 20th, 2009 at 12:44 PM by Melwing17 Melwing17 is offline
Old
Nooblar's Avatar
If you want to connect these ideas to land usage, there's an official map of Valhalla with locations of official battlefields marked on it. If you drew lines between locations, you could measure how well you're doing either by number of locations held, or by areas enclosed by drawing lines between locations you hold. Good ideas, in any case.
Posted February 21st, 2009 at 08:58 PM by Nooblar Nooblar is offline
Old
Tornado's Avatar
Some great ideas. King of the hill is always fun. Nooblar, your idea kinda sounds like Risk which is also excellent. Back to KotH, do you end the the game after a set # of rounds and whoever is on top of the hill at the end wins? Any restrictions as far as figures (like no squads)? Would love to hear more ideas Bones and Melwing17. I am an RPGer myself. peace
Posted September 2nd, 2010 at 02:22 PM by Tornado Tornado is offline
 
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